Moira Shire Council has endorsed the Victorian Electoral Commission‘s Preliminary Report recommending no change to the current electoral structure of a council.
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The VEC’s Preliminary Report recommends the status que of nine councillors to be elected from an unsubdivided structure for the upcoming 2020 Moira Shire Councillor elections.
Council endorsed the recommendation to formally support the VEC’s Preliminary Report at its April meeting last Wednesday.
But ratepayers still have a unique chance to consider a second option of a subdivided structure where nine councillors are elected from three wards (East, Central and West), each with three councilors.
Prior to the last councillor review in 2007, Moira Shire Council had a subdivided structure.
The Victorian Electoral Commission is undertaking representation reviews for 31 councils in 2019 and 2020. Moira Shire is included in the first 12 councils. The first round of public submissions concluded on March 6 and the VEC subsequently released its Preliminary Report that considers the 15 submissions received.
The VEC’s report highlights a number of key challenges in moving to a subdivided electoral structure. It states that wards can create the perception that a local councilor is elected to represent the interests of the ward, which is not consistent with the legislated duty to govern in the interests of the entire shire.
The report also mentions to achieve appropriate balance of population in each ward, current communities of interest will be broken up for example smaller communities and towns in the east of the shire that gravitate to Yarrawonga as their main town will be aligned with Cobram.
It also highlights the different rates of population growth across the shire which would require the boundaries to be reset regularly.
Electoral Commissioner, Warwick Gately AM, encouraged community members to get involved by reviewing the report and making a submission.
“ We want to ensure all voters are represented in a fair and equitable way, so now’s the time to speak up,” Mr Gately said.
Submissions responding to the preliminary report should address the options and must be received by the VEC by 5pm Wednesday, May 1. Submissions can be made online at vec.vic.gov.au, by email or by post.
A public hearing will be held at 6pm on Wednesday, May 8 at the Cobram Civic Centre, Punt Road, Cobram for anyone who has requested to speak in support of their submission. If there are no requests to speak, the hearing will not be held.
The preliminary report is available at vec.vic.gov.au. Copies are also available for inspection at Moira Shire Council offices.
A final report containing VEC’s recommendation on the structure will be provided to the Minister for Local Government on May 29.
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